Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez announced a shakeup Friday of the top staff at City Hall.

Two new assistant city managers have been hired, one from Tyler, one from Charlotte, N.C. One longtime assistant city manager, Forest Turner, is being reassigned. Two interim assistant city managers, Theresa O’Donnell and Charles Cato, are being sent essentially back to their prior slots.

A new code compliance director, Kris Sweckard, is being brought over from the Court & Detention Services Department. A new city spokeswoman, Sana Syed, has been hired from Arlington. And there are other notable changes at the department level.

When he was named city manager six months ago, Gonzalez pledged to bring change to the city’s bureaucracy. That pledge was made in part to allay the concerns of City Council members wary of promoting a longtime Dallas insider to the position.

Friday’s announcement was what Gonzalez called the first major step in making good on his promise.

“We’re innovating from the top down and re-energizing from the bottom up,” Gonzalez said. “We’re bringing talent in from the outside. … And we’re shifting staff to take the lead in key initiatives, where they can have the most impact.”

The moves come at a critical time for Gonzalez, who was hired in January at an annual salary of $400,000. That was 31 percent more than the $305,000 that his predecessor, Mary Suhm, was making at the end of her eight-year tenure as city manager.

Gonzalez has earned praise for bringing more transparency to the budgeting process and for starting an overhaul of the housing department. However, some council members have complained that he’s been slow in demonstrating that, in his words, “positive change can and will be achieved from within.”

Critics wondered whether Gonzalez would follow through with private promises to reshuffle the ranks of his top lieutenants. Those worries were stoked in June, when it was revealed that Gonzalez gave nearly all top City Hall staff merit raises of at least 3 percent.

Now Gonzalez must wait and see if he rocked the boat enough.

“These efforts take a little bit of time,” he said. “To be able to get this accomplished in six months — and have everybody dealt with in a fair way — I think is a timely response to that desire for change.”

Change has become the headline — or punch line, to some critics — of Gonzalez’s time as city manager.

The 63-year-old, who served as first assistant city manager under Suhm, won the top job over two outsiders. The council hired Gonzalez in a unanimous vote, with some council members touting his work ethic and experience in guiding big projects.

But some council members openly expressed skepticism at Gonzalez’s hiring. Some argued behind closed doors for one of the other candidates, arguing that the city could use a fresh approach.

To win over those on the fence, Gonzalez pitched himself as the candidate best positioned to implement change. He said he was “confident that we can get started on those changes sooner, not later.”

Several council members said later that Gonzalez specifically promised changes at the top. When the news broke in June about the merit raises for most in upper management, council member Philip Kingston vented on Facebook — and offered details on what he said Gonzalez had told the council behind closed doors.

“The specific promise A.C. made to us during his interview was that he would move 5 of his top 7 lieutenants,” Kingston wrote. “He absolutely implied that the moves were going to be made to address under-performance.”

Gonzalez declined to comment on those specifics, noting that his conversations with the council about personnel took place in executive session. And in any case, he’s also had to weigh the views of supporters on the City Council who have said they weren’t interested in major changes to the status quo.

The two new assistant city managers, Mark McDaniel and Eric Campbell, are at the center of Gonzalez’s bureaucratic overhaul.

The city in May authorized spending $20,000 to hire Affion Public, a consulting and executive search firm, to look for candidates for assistant city manager. Candidates were brought in over the last couple of months for interviews.

McDaniel, 53, has been Tyler’s city manager since 2009. Before that, he was Tyler’s top assistant city manager for five years. He previously worked in Corpus Christi, Woodway, Lake Jackson and Denton.

McDaniel, who’s been earning $205,000 a year, has won plaudits in Tyler for his fiscal stewardship. He implemented managerial changes aimed at eliminating waste that have reportedly saved millions of dollars.

Campbell, 50, has been an assistant city manager in Charlotte since 2008. He brings a lengthy background in public safety — overseeing police and fire departments — and in budgeting. Before Charlotte, he worked in several Virginia cities.

Campbell, who’s making $185,000 a year in Charlotte, has worked there through a prolonged period of economic growth. The city was recently rocked by corruption charges against former Mayor Patrick Cannon, but there’s no indication that Campbell was involved.

Gonzalez said Campbell’s public safety background would allow First Assistant City Manager Ryan Evans — who officially assumed that title Friday after serving in an interim capacity — to focus more on economic development and zoning.

The two new assistant city managers will each earn $225,000, more than earlier hires into that job. Evans, as first assistant, will get a pay bump to $250,000, while Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan gets a raise to $205,000.

The new hires could spur further change, as they will have the latitude to evaluate staff and processes and recommend improvements, Gonzalez said.

“That’s part and parcel of the benefit of bringing in some outside perspective,” he said.

Other aspects of Gonzalez’s shakeup trickle down from there.

Turner, an assistant city manager over sanitation, water utilities and other areas, will now focus on the health and fitness of city employees. The 48-year-old Air Force veteran had been an assistant city manager since 2009.

The need for an increased focus on wellness focus became apparent earlier this year, Gonzalez said, when it was shown that 80 percent of those insured under the city’s health plan are overweight or obese. That ultimately costs the city tens of millions of dollars in preventable expenses.

O’Donnell, an interim assistant city manager since July 2013, will take over a new job as chief planning officer in the newly created planning and neighborhood vitality department. She is charged with consolidating much of the city’s planning process while also overhauling the city’s housing department.

Cato also became an interim assistant city manager last year. He returns to his old job, first assistant police chief.

“They are still in positions that are requiring a high level of skill and leadership,” Gonzalez said. “Those areas are going to be very valuable, in terms of benefits for the cities.”

Sweckard, who’s previously served as interim library director, will take over code compliance from interim Director Jimmy Martin. Regardless of who’s been in charge, code compliance has been a sore spot for constituents for years. They either complain that enforcement is too strict, too lax or uneven.

Syed, a former television reporter, will take over the city spokesperson’s job, which has been open since March. Don Babers, a former regional director in the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, has been hired to consult on the city’s housing overhaul.

Gonzalez announced several new directors and assistant directors in departments including sanitation, streets and sustainable development. He elevated some who had been working under an interim tag, while others are entirely new to their positions.

Follow Tom Benning on Twitter at @tombenning.

AT A GLANCE: Changes at City Hall

Here’s a look at the restructuring of top city management announced Friday by City Manager A.C. Gonzalez.

NEW HIRES

Eric Campbell: An assistant city manager in Charlotte, N.C., he will have the same title in Dallas when he starts on Sept. 29. He will oversee the police and fire departments, courts and emergency management.

Mark McDaniel: The Tyler city manager will become an assistant city manager in Dallas on Sept. 2. He will oversee streets, sanitation, water utilities and equipment and building services.

NEW DUTIES

Forest Turner: Assistant city manager. Reassigned as chief wellness officer. He will address the costly reality that many city employees are overweight.

Theresa O’Donnell: Interim assistant city manager. Becomes chief planning officer in the new planning and neighborhood vitality department. She will continue efforts to overhaul the housing department.

Charles Cato: Interim assistant city manager, returns to his job as first assistant police chief. He will continue leading staff efforts to revise the city’s transportation-for-hire rules.

NO CHANGE

Ryan Evans: First assistant city manager. He had been interim in that role. He will oversee economic development, sustainable development and construction, convention and event services, and aviation.